Pension crisis? What Pension Crisis?

Telegraph | News | £2m pension for Blair as private sector faces crisis

When Tony Blair leaves office, he will be entitled to benefits worth more than £2.6 million, swelled by a special prime minister's pension awarded for life, according to documents obtained under the Freedom of Information Act.

Under an obscure Act of Parliament, former prime ministers are entitled to a pension of half their salary as soon as they depart No 10, irrespective of their length of service.

Mr Blair does not have to contribute anything to be eligible for the scheme and if he resigned today he would receive an immediate income of £62,400 a year, Downing Street confirmed yesterday.

William Burrows, an actuary, calculates that anyone with an income of that size bought in the form of an annuity - the method on which private sector pensioners rely - would have to save up a pension pot of £2 million.

...

The prime ministerial pension would come on top of Mr Blair's superannuation as an MP, which could be payable from when he reaches 60, because of his long service.

He has been an MP since 1983, and assuming he has been contributing the maximum 10 per cent of his £59,000 MP's salary, he could retire in eight years with a pension of £38,900, which would cost £570,000 to buy as an annuity.

On leaving office he would also be entitled to a redundancy payment of £31,000. And if he stepped down as an MP, too, he would receive up to a year's salary as a resettlement grant.

So while El Gordo is busy nicking £40 billion from our private pension funds, Tony can look forward to a pension that is 3 times the national average salary, without contributing a penny.

All out of tax payers money. Remember that in your dotage, when you can't afford to heat your house.